[imagesource: Twitter / Elena Lazic]

When France unveiled the two triangular red mascots for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, they wholly expected that everyone would be impressed with their iconic choice.

Dubbed the Phryges (pronounced fri-jee-uhs), they are shaped like Phrygian caps – the floppy, conical hats associated with the French Revolution.

These little-known ambassadors are supposed to be a nod to the iconic French figure Marianne who wore it (see her up top in that historical painting of the French Revolution) and a “symbol of freedom”.

Look at them go:

The Olympic Phryge and the Paralympic Phryge are taking the lead of a tribe which always has its trainers on 👟
What could be better than little Phrygian caps to lead the revolution through sport and accompany us to the #Paris2024 Games! pic.twitter.com/hUjFI09zZM

— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) November 14, 2022

Except, for many French commentators, the Phryges bore more resemblance to female genitalia, per The Telegraph:

“We’re all in agreement it’s not a Phrygian cap at all but a full-blown clitoris?”, remarked Mathilde Meslin, a French journalist whose online observations were widely shared, causing much mirth.

“I’m sorry but if you airbrush out its little trainers and the French flag and there you go!”, she insisted.

“Thank you, that was my first reaction. Now I feel less alone,” remarked another female online commentator.

Indeed, the resemblance is uncanny:

En hommage au gang du clito? Meeerciiiii!! pic.twitter.com/rZs3iOIhtd

— Clem (@baleinelove) November 14, 2022

That giant five-metre-high inflatable clitoris was carried around by members of Gang du Clito to mark International Women’s Day at Human Rights Plaza in Paris on March 8, 2021.

The feminist group were campaigning for more education and scientific research on the organ whose sole function is the female orgasm.

Guillaume Erner, a sociologist and radio host, saw the connection and said that “by placing the Olympic Games under the authority of this female organ, our country is making a strong statement”:

“It’s excellent news for female pleasure and the world’s general education,” he insisted. “Nobody can now say with impunity that the clitoris is the latest Toyota model.”

The Guardian reported that French newspaper Libération hailed it as a revolutionary departure from the traditional phallic symbol of the Eiffel Tower, likening the red triangles to a giant “clitoris in trainers”:

…the journalist Quentin Girard celebrated the fact that the floppy tip of the mascots’ hat was actually being seen as a clitoris glans.

He said “from an anatomical point of view”, having a clitoris as the French Olympic mascot was “very good news” and meant that after years of taboo and lack of education, the country had collectively “at last understood what one looks like”.

The Olympic organisers are sticking to it being an “ideal”, saying that the Phryges “are sporty, love to party … and are so French”:

The Phrygian cap, the symbol of freedom during the French Revolution has been chosen the mascot of the Paris 2024 Olympics https://t.co/bBIwYYBavo pic.twitter.com/epolzsCvCA

— Reuters (@Reuters) November 15, 2022

Appropriate, still.

Julia Pietri, who led a street-art campaign for more education on the clitoris, couldn’t be happier that after years of hard feminist work, people can finally recognise the clitoris.

#Paris2024 organizers on Monday unveiled a Phryges cap as the official mascots of the next Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. pic.twitter.com/9ijcyAbQL1

— Zhang Meifang张美芳 (@CGMeifangZhang) November 14, 2022

We’re all excited for the big O. The Olympics, I mean.

[sources:telegraph&guardian]